Before Hurricane Francine made landfall on Sept. 11, on-campus students had the option to pick up a hurricane preparedness meal bag from the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life. With the help of registered dieticians, Tulane University Hospitality’s culinary and operations teams assembled the bags. 

According to Matthew Fryou, assistant director of communications and events for Tulane Campus Services, the university keeps a robust supply of food on hand to account for food disruptions. University employees prepared and distributed approximately 5,000 meal bags. Dieticians hand packed approximately 100 accommodation bags for students with dietary restrictions.  

“Tulane follows a shelter-in-place meal distribution strategy which ensures that students will have sufficient meals, three times a day, for up to three days. This is part of a standard preparation protocol,” Fryou said.   

Most emergency meal kits were equipped with chips, granola bars, soup, cookies, fruit cups, packets of peanut butter and jelly and the option to take a sandwich and a loaf of bread. Students with dietary restrictions received the same bag with a one-for-one swap of items to meet their dietary needs.  

Tulane Hospitality made an effort to pack sufficient food for a two-day shelter-in-place period. Their registered dieticians were on-site in the LBC during meal distribution to help students on a “case-by-case basis,” according to Fryou. 

Fryou also said that students with dietary restrictions “were instructed to speak with a dietitian upon arrival at the LBC and then their bags were built to their specific needs.”  

“The contents of the meal bags are designed to provide balanced and adequate nutrition for the duration of the emergency,” Fryou said in an email response to The Hullabaloo. 

According to sophomore Sophia Watson, who follows a gluten-free diet, she did not receive an adequate supply of food to meet her dietary restrictions. She waited 30 minutes in a separate line to receive her bag with replacement items because her bag was not made ahead of time as promised by the university. Watson does not report to Tulane’s dieticians.  

“When I was waiting, there were maybe fifteen other people with dietary restrictions that were also waiting, but people that were not gluten-free or vegetarian all got their bags really fast, and then they were out within two seconds,” said Watson.   

Watson said she still received items in her bag that contained gluten or were cross-contaminated items made in facilities with gluten.  

The Malkin Sacks Commons remained partially open during the hurricane with a limited menu until 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11. The Commons returned to normal operations the next day.